Author: Openact Architecture Team: Zuhal Kol, Carlos Zarco Sanz. Advisor: Iñaqui Carnicero Type: Research/Competition Location: Madrid, Spain Status: First Award, Honorable mention Period: May 2013 In the current shifting economic and social context of Madrid, the public market of Cebada is one of the very central locations which was about to be privatized for a new shopping mall construction, but (fortunately) left half empty as the economic crisis hit the country. Although the place is poorly functioning as a market, the latest small interventions to the site by the artists and the neighbors proved that the area has a great potential as a node for generating activity, gathering its highly immigrant population for them to produce and share not only in economic means but also as a social center. This local movement led some artists and craft workers to use the closed kiosks for provocative art, workshops-stores and exhibition spaces, however, they have not been able to continuous as the current market building does not allow sufficient attention. Located in the center of the city -at the intersection of an immense urban potential and local qualities- the project investigates a strategic approach for la Cebada that can be applied to similar circumstances which need a review of the programmatic indeterminacy in an urban context and the contemporary public space. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE // Traces Of The Past To Enlight Future Emerging from a void of ancient Arab cemetery, the Plaza of Cebada was one of the major meeting points of the city as a market square in the sixteenth century when later the city became the capital of the Kingdom. Having dense social, cultural, economic, commercial activities throughout its history, this void functioned as the unifying element in Madrid and a generator of activity which was open to all citizens. However, as Madrid’s infrastructure began to develop with the industrialization and the railroad connections, the open market was transformed into a building to store and organize big amounts of products. This walled-up market building unfortunately neglected the public space losing the connection with the other squares/areas of the city [urban], and left the Plaza with a huge but poorly functioning market building serving only a small part of its close surroundings [local]. . Looking into the historic transformation of the site, one can interpret that the number of activities and the area’s programmatic flexibility decreased as the buildings conceived physical boundaries in and around the site. However, considering the current shifting / unpredictable economic circumstances of the city, a public urban realm is necessitated to be able to respond to any long or short term change or demand to continue functioning and serving for people. For this purpose, the project observes a huge potential of flexibility + connectivity of the site when it was used as a plaza and being a void in Madrid. Therefore, the question arises as: Would it be possible to transform El Mercado de la Cebada into Plaza de Cebada once again to reach maximum flexibility against indeterminant processes of Madrid and grasp an intersection point of local and urban? . STRATEGY OF THE VOID ACTIVATING THE VOID: The Negotiation Of The Two : Local & Urban Considering the local and the urban scale relations of the site, the project regains the “voidness of the site” to transform the site into a major public plaza once more, and maintain the main logistics and transportation infrastructure slab of the site alongside the characteristic dome structure to convey a historical layer of the market, but at the same time to take advantage of the potentials of the existing storage and service area that serves sufficiently for the local scale and for the kiosks. On the other hand, the program of the site should be compelling to and calling for a broader public around the city to regain the area as a major plaza of Madrid. Therefore, Cultural institutions and programs-library, museum, exhibition, art-creation spaces, free-time activity areas and platforms are introduced as the new cultural programs slab for public to embrace the area once more as a public plaza of the city. . . Through the interaction and negotiation of these two programmatic slabs, the varying programs under and on the void activate the plaza, in a way the building becomes an infrastructure for the site to regain its flexibility and despite its bigness it serves and allows the small moves, the changing activities and the manipulations of the user. This strategy of the void for a market place has the potential to become a solution for a very flexible and adaptable system as the concept of falling and rising activities may vary according to numerous scales and necessities of an open market meanwhile keeping all components of it holistic and legible within the main framework. . - First Award in "M.arts 2013 International Competiton" organized by Opengap in Madrid, Spain. - Honorable Mention in "Cebada Community Center International Competiton" organized by Archie in Madrid, Spain 2014. Zuhal Kol, Carlos Zarco Sanz